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A law created to stop patients from receiving surprise bills may be leading to higher costs for those same people. The No Surprises Act was implemented in 2022 to protect people with employer-sponsored health plans from many types of costly out-of-network billing disputes. The law has delivered on that promise but its baseball-style arbitration system has been unexpectedly overwhelmed with challenges from providers and provider-aligned companies, with all stakeholders asking Congress to pass legislative fixes. (Tong, 10/7)

Ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, President Donald Trump has increasingly touted his drug pricing deals, claiming the U.S. is now paying the world’s lowest prescription drug prices. “This one thing alone should win us the midterms,” he recently said at the White House. TrumpRx.gov, the public face of his drug pricing discounts, has grown dramatically since its launch in February. What started as a few dozen brand-name drugs now includes a catalog of more than 800 brand-name and generic medications, offering discounts on everything from popular weight loss drugs to treatments for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. (Lovelace Jr., 10/7)

Ellen Allen has mixed feelings about the check from the U.S. Treasury and letter from President Trump that arrived at her house near Charleston, W.Va., on Monday. "I just can't believe it; I mean, that's crazy," says Allen, who's the executive director of a small nonprofit called West Virginians for Affordable Health Care. She says, in her opinion, sending out these checks is a "political stunt." (Simmons-Duffin, 10/7)

President Trump dismissed a question Wednesday about his administration sending money to Americans ahead of the midterms, choosing instead to tout his tariffs. “What we’re doing is we have tremendous growth. We have the greatest growth of any country, maybe ever in history,” the president said in the Oval Office, when the Independent’s Andrew Feinberg asked whether he was sending money to Americans “in hopes they vote for” Republicans. “We’re able to do this that the Democrats can’t, because they would’ve not … been able to use tariffs so wisely like we did,” Trump added. (Rego, 10/7)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: ‘Medicare For All’ Is Back. Now Comes The Hard Part

As Americans grow increasingly frustrated with their healthcare system, a proposal that has long been kicked around on the Democratic periphery is showing up in debates and on political platforms: “Medicare for All.” According to a 2025 Economist-YouGov poll, nearly 60% of Americans favor a system of Medicare for All, while 85% of Democrats support it. For years, Democrats in Congress have proposed symbolic Medicare for All bills that have had no chance of passage but have been supported by dozens of members. (Rosenthal, 10/8)

Two powerful House committees with jurisdiction over health care policies are expected to get several fresh faces after the midterms. The combined impact of a potential wave election and multiple departing lawmakers could open up plenty of seats on the Energy and Commerce and Way and Means committees. Similar jockeying is going on for key Senate committee roles, as STAT previously reported. (Wilkerson, 10/8)

Rep. Diana DeGette has a message for the new blood in the Democratic Party. The wave of hard-left candidates who are eyeing seats in Congress will face a stark political reality if they pursue a premature and overly ambitious health care agenda right off the bat. (DeGroot, 10/7)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘�������ýҕ�l Health News Minute’

Katheryn Houghton reads the week’s news: Hundreds of thousands of immigrants with legal status have become ineligible for government health insurance. Plus, some states are considering universal coverage to ease consumer health costs. (10/8)